Research Methods and

Dissertation Writing
 Glatthorn (1998)
“Writing the Winning Dissertation”
 Walliman (2001)
“Your Research Project ”
 THESIS PREPARATION
for graduate studies
Dept. of pharmacology, Univ. of Toronto
 TITLE PAGE
 An M.Sc. Thesis in  ABSTRACT
general is from 70 -  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
120 pages in length.  TABLE OF CONTENTS
 LIST OF TABLES (where applicable)
A Ph.D. thesis in  LIST OF PLATES (where applicable)
general is from 100 -  LIST OF FIGURES
 LIST OF APPENDICES (where
130 pages in length. applicable)
Ph.D. and M.Sc.  Section I INTRODUCTION
 Section 2 METHODOLOGY
thesis manuscripts  Section 3 RESULTS
should be written  Section 4 DISCUSSION,
CONCLUSIONS,
under the following RECOMMENDATIONS
headings/components:  REFERENCES
 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS AND
ABSTRACTS
 APPENDICES (as necessary)
 Dissertation Pattern
 Most dissertations are organized in the
time-honored pattern:
1. Introduction
2. Review of the literature
3. Methodology
4. Results
5. Summary and discussion
The Focused Review of the Literatures

 Proposal – a research contract that spells out

the details of your research plan.
 Prospectus – a preliminary sketch of the
proposal
 Both need the focused review of the literatures

project 專案;
plan 計畫;
proposal 提案書;
prospectus 說明書
 Evaluate the Literatures
1. Check the author.  Code 1 = “must-have”
2. Check the title. source
3. Check the date.  Code 2 = “maybe

4. Note the source. helpful” source

(importance)  Code 3 = “not useful”

5. Check the document source

type.
6. Read the abstract.
 Example of Prospectus
Student Name October 15, 2004

Prospectus: Doctoral Dissertation

Research topic: Performance assessments
Research problem: What problems do social studies teachers encounter in
using performance assessments in the classroom?
Methodology:
RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE: Qualitative primary, qualitative first
RESEARCH TYPE: Case study
RESEARCH METHODS: The research will make primary use of
observations, supplemented by interviews. Three teachers of American
history will be observed during class sessions when they have decided to
use performance assessments. Each teacher will be interviewed after the
observation. The research will cover only the second term of the school
year.
Preliminary calendar: Plans call for the dissertation to be defended in April,
2005. A detailed but tentative planning calendar is attached.
 Developing the Prospectus
 The prospectus usually includes three
elements:
1. Research topic and research problem
Are the research topic and problem clearly stated?

2. Methodology
Is the methodology clearly explicated?

3. Preliminary calendar for completing the

dissertation
Does the preliminary calendar accurately reflect my working
conditions and the likely pace of the research?
 Organizing the Committee
 Timing of the Committee Selection Process
 Choosing the Chair
1. Availability.
2. Reputation for responding promptly and constructively.
3. Interest in your research topic.
4. Interpersonal compatibility.
5. Research skills.
6. Complementarity.
 Organize the Rest of the Committee
1. Complements the chair.
2. Generally available.
3. Get along with each other.
Examine the Research Problem
 Explain the research problem clearly.
 Explain your personal interest.
 Explain its professional significance:
1. Tests a theory.
2. Contributes toward the development of theory.
3. Extends existing knowledge.
4. Tests prevailing beliefs.
5. Suggests relationships between phenomena.
6. Extends a research methodology.
7. Provides greater depth of knowledge about
previously studied phenomena.
 Follow Up on the Conference
 Send the committee a letter thanking them
for their suggestions and summarizing the
decisions made.
 In fact, in all meetings with the committee
make it a practice to take careful notes,
systematize them for the record, and send
copies to the committee.
Maintain Good Research Practices
Throughout the Search
1. Maintain your search record.
2. Keep your research journal.
3. Make copies of all sources.
4. Be sure that the copy has full bibliographic information.
5. Check the reference list of every source you have
located.
6. Back up all computer files.
7. Get expert help whenever you need it.
8. Keep your dissertation chair informed about progress
and problems.
9. It is useful to set up and maintain a home page on the
Internet.
 Comprehensive Search
 PubMed
 Ingenta (UnCover)
 NetLibrary (Your library)
 ProQuest Digital Dissertations
 HighWire (The Washington DC Principles for
Free Access to Science)
 Engineering Village2 (conference materials)
 Delphion Patent Search (PDF files)
 Length of a Proposal
Chapter Comprehensive Working
proposal length proposal length
1. Introduction to 20 5
the study
2. Review of the 40 5
literature
3. Methodology 15 15
Appendix: Proposed 1 1
timeline
Total 76 26
 The Proposal: Chapter 1
 Introductionto the chapter
 The background of the study
 The problem statement
 The professional significance of the study
 The Proposal: Chapter 2
The review of the literature
 Reviewing the Theoretical Literature
1. Reviewing theories
2. Developing a conceptual framework (a
viewgraph or a flowchart)
 The Proposal: Chapter 3
Methodology
1. Type of research and specific subtype
2. Context and access
3. Participants and how selected
4. Instrumentation
5. Data collection
6. Data analysis
 The Proposal: The Appendix
Section
 Any supporting materials
 Planning schedule or summary of it
 Use CBE style for writing
 The Proposal Defense
 Preproposal summary? (Yes or no?)
 Who will lead the session? (Chair or you?)
 Who will be responsible for making notes
of decisions made? (You!)
 How long will the session probably last? (1
hour)
 About how much time should the student
take to present the proposal? (30 min
assuming that your committee has read
the proposal.)
 Procedure (I)
1. You send Chapter 1 to your chair.
2. He or she reviews it and suggest revisions.
3. You revise and submit the revision to the chair,
who reviews it and approves it (unless
additional changes are needed.)
4. You then use the same procedures with
Chapters 2 and 3, in succession.
5. When the chair has approved the first three
chapters, he or she notifies the other
committee members that those chapters are
ready for their review.
 Procedure (II)
6. You send the other committee members
the approved drafts of Chapter 1, 2, and
3.
7. The other committee members send their
suggestions for revision to the chair, who
reviews them and confers with you about
additional changes required for Chapters
1-3.
8. You revise Chapters 1-3.
 Procedure (III)
9. You write Chapter 4 and send it to the
chair, who suggests revisions.
10. You revise Chapter 4 and send the
revised chapters to your chair.
11. You write Chapter 5 and send it to the
chair, who suggests revisions.
12. You revise Chapter 5.
 Procedure (IV)
13. Your chair notifies the committee that all
chapters have been approved and that
you are ready for the dissertation draft.
14. You send the completed dissertation to
the committee.
15. You make any final changes the other
committee members request.
 Be sure to resolve the procedure issue
with the committee.
Following the Recommended Style
Guide
1. Use high-quality white paper, minimum
20-pound weight, 8 ½” by 11”. Do not
use erasable stock.
2. Double-space all text. Long quotations
and footnotes may be single-spaced.
3. Use a 10-point or 12-point font.
4. Use a letter-quality printer.
5. Do not use correction fluid or tape.
6. Use a left margin of 1 ½ inches to
provide room for binding.
 An Effective Approach to Writing
 Ensure that you have ready access to a
computer and good word processing software.
The computer is a scholarly necessity.
 Create a research-writing center for yourself.
Equip it with your research and writing needs:
computer, files, dictionary, and related
professional works.
 Reserve the center only for dissertation work, so
that every time you sit down in that special chair,
the environment says “dissertation time.”
 An Effective Approach to Writing
 Develop a writing schedule that will help
you write systematically and effectively.
You can’t write while you’re watching the
baby, doing the laundry, or watching
television.
 Arrange for the help you will need: a
professional word processor, a good editor.
Professors are scholars, not editors.
 Write With an Efficient Process
 Begin to write. Check your outline.
What do you do if you have “writer’s block” –
that frustrating feeling that all writers know at
times, when the words just will not come?
The best answer is to write your way through
it. Grit your teeth and write whatever comes
into your head. Force yourself to write, even
if the writing seems bad. Do not sit there and
worry that you cannot write.
 Write With an Efficient Process
 Use headings and verbal signals to make
your organization clear to the reader. The
appropriate use of headings will help the
reader track your organizational pattern.
You should also use verbal signals that
show where the chapter is going, such as
first, next, also, finally.
 With that first draft finished, the best
advice is to put it aside for a few hours at
least – and the read it with a fresh eye.
 Document Assertions
 The journalist writes: “Experts now believe
that most large employers will soon be
providing child-care services for working
parents.”
 The scholars writes: “According to several
studies, a large percentage of the
companies employing more than 1,000
employees provide some form of child
care for working parents (see, for example,
the Murphy 1997 survey).”
 The Way You Identify Sources
 According to Walker (1998), parents reported
satisfaction ...
 Walker (1998) concluded that ...
 Parents reported a high level of satisfaction with
the charter schools their children attended
(Walker, 1998).
 Several studies conclude that parents are
generally satisfied with the charter school their
children attended (see, for example, Jones,
1996; King, 1990; Walker, 1998).
 In the 1998 study by Walker ...
 Write Clear, Mature Sentences
1. Combine shorter sentences.
Too short: Gray (1998) studied the
effectiveness of the new schedule. He
used scores on the Stanford
Achievement Test as the measure.
Combined: Gray (1998) studied the
effectiveness of the new schedule, using
scores on the Stanford Achievement
Test as the measure.
 Write Clear, Mature Sentences
2. Put the main idea in the main clause.
Incorrect: The schedule was in effect only
1 year, with students achieving better
results.
Better: Students achieved better results,
although the schedule was in effect only
1 year.
 Write Clear, Mature Sentences
3. Reduce the number of ands.
Too many ands: The teacher put the
assignment on the board, and then she
checked the roll and found that three
students were absent.
Better: After putting the assignment on the
board, the teacher found by checking the
roll that three students were absent.
 Write Clear, Mature Sentences
4. Achieve an effect of clarity and directness by
expressing the main action of the sentence in
the verb and the main doer of the action (the
agent) in the subject.
Nonaction verbs: do, make, have, be, perform,
and occur.
Vague and wordy: Orientations and explanations
are important methods used by teachers in
teaching writing.
Better: Teachers teach writing by orienting and
explaining.
 Write Clear, Mature Sentences
5. Avoid inserting long modifiers between the
subject and the verb.
Too separated: School administrators who are
interested in making changes that are not too
expensive or too complex for the most part have
been overly receptive to simplistic solutions.
Better: Because many school administrators
seem interested in making only simple and
inexpensive changes, they have been overly
receptive to simplistic solutions.
 Write Clear, Mature Sentences
6. Avoid using subordinate clauses that modify
other subordinate clauses.
Tandem subordination: One of the obstacles that
deter the installation of solar energy systems
that are designed to achieve the savings that are
important to all people is the reluctance of those
same individuals to make large capital
investments.
Better: Many people are reluctant to install solar
energy systems because of the large capital
investment required.
 Write Clear, Mature Sentences
7. Place modifiers so that they clearly modify
what you intend them to modify.
Incorrect: Having explained the directions,
the students began to write.
Correct: After the teacher explained the
directions, the students began to write.
 Write Clear, Mature Sentences
8. Avoid excessive use of the passive voice.
Passive voice resulted in a wordy, lifeless
style. One way of avoiding the excessive
use of the passive is to use I to refer to the
researcher. Do not overdo it. Do not riddle
your paper with I’s. You are writing a
dissertation, not a personal essay.
 Write Clear, Mature Sentences
9. Be consistent in matters of verb tense.
 Use future tense in the proposal. “A random
sample of students will be selected …”
 Use past tense in the literature review, unless
you are referring to a current belief of the
researcher.
 In the dissertation, use past tense for the design
or procedure.
 In the dissertation, use present tense to describe
and discuss the results that are there before the
reader.
 The Organization of Individual
Chapters
 First, each chapter must seem to relate to the
whole.
 Next, each chapter should make sense by itself
and be organized in such a way that the reader
can easily follow the line of argument.
 Finally, the parts of the chapter should clearly
relate to each other, conveying a sense of order
and form.
 Also, be sure to frame each chapter with a
definite introduction that opens the chapter and
suggests what is to come and a clear conclusion
that draws the chapter to a close.
 Chapter 1: Statement of the
problem
 General background of the study
 Problem statement
 Professional significance of the problem
 Overview of the methodology
 Delimitations of the study
 Definitions of key terms
 Organization of the dissertation
 Chapter 2: A review of the
literature
 An overview of how the chapter is
organized
 Review of the theoretical and empirical
literature, organized according to one of
certain patterns
 A summary of what the previous research
seems to mean and how it relates to this
study
Chapter 3: The methodology of
the study
A description of the general methodology
 The research context or site
 The subjects or participants
 The instruments and materials used
 The procedures followed
 The data analyses made
 A summary statement of the methodology
 Chapter 4: The results of the
study
 An overview of the chapter
 A presentation of the results, organized in
terms of how the problem statement was
posed in the first chapter
 A summary in general terms of the results
obtained
 Chapter 5: The summary and
discussion
A summary of the results, organized in
terms of how the problem statement was
posed
 A discussion of the findings
 Organization of a Chapter
 You begin by indicating in Chapter 1 how
the dissertation is organized.
 You open each chapter by linking it with
the previous chapter and by indicating
what will come.
 You use headings and subheadings at the
major divisions of the chapter.
 As each division begins, you use a
transition between that division and what
has gone before.
 Transition Paragraph
A transition paragraph is a short
paragraph that links major sections of the
paper.
 The first sentence looks back to the
previous section or division.
 The second sentence looks ahead.
 Transition Sentence
A transition sentence has the same
structure in condensed form: The first part,
usually a subordinate clause, of the
sentence looks back. The second part,
usually the main clause, looks ahead.
 “In addition to this examination of the
types of questions, researchers have also
studied the frequency of question asking.”
 How Is the Dissertation
Packaged?
 Approval page.
 Acknowledgments page.
 Contents. (Not Table of Contents.)
 List of tables and figures.
 The chapters.
 References.
 Appendixes.
 (Index.)
Example of Introductory Chapter
1. Introduction to the study

This dissertation is a report of an ethnographic study of the teaching

of writing. The study was based primarily upon the direct observation of a

fifth-grade teacher in an urban school district who used …

Background of the Study

It might be useful at this juncture to describe briefly the

professional developments occurring at the time that influenced the study.

It was first of all a time when the public in general and …

The Final Outline for the Review of the Literature
I. Search Process
II. Theoretical Literature
A. Jackson
B. Burden
C. Huberman
III. Empirical Research
A. Stages
1. Entry
2. Stabilization
3. Experimentation/reassessment
4. Serenity/conservatism
5. Disengagement
B. Factors influencing development
1. Personal
2. Contextual
3. Intervention-related
C. Means of fostering professional development
1. Supervision
2. Staff development
3. Graduate study
4. External workshops
5. Change in role
6. Change in teaching assignment
 Headings: 4 Levels
[Level 1] 2. Review of the Literature

[intro] A large body of literature on the nature of teachers’ professional development provides a basis for the present

study. This chapter will explain the search process in reviewing that literature and then examine both the theoretical

and empirical studies in the field.

[Level 2] Search Process

The following review was developed through a systematic …

[Level 2] Theoretical Literature

Several theories have been advanced to explain the nature …

[Level 2] Empirical Research

The empirical studies that have been conducted have focused on three elements: the stages of development;

factors influencing development; and means of fostering that development.

[Level 3] Stages of Development

Several major studies have examined teachers’ professional development through the several stages of growth.

[Level 4] Entry stage. The entry stage, when the teachers begin their careers, is chiefly a time when the teacher develops

survival skills.
 3. Methodology

This chapter explains the methods used in carrying out the study, giving special emphasis

to the analysis of data. It should be noted at the outset that the methodology was to a certain

extent an evolving one that took definite shape as the study progressed.

The General Perspective

As a qualitative study, the research reported here embodied both a quantitative and a

qualitative perspective …

The Research Context

The study took place in a charter school in its first year of operation. For purposes of

confidentiality, the school will be referred to with the fictitious name …

The Research Participants

Although the researcher was inevitably aware of the actions of both the director and the

students, his primary concern was with the actions of the teachers …
 Table 1. Primary Source Used for Developing Long-Term Plans for
Instruction

Primary Source 1997 1986

% %
District curriculum guide 12 8

State test 24 12

Textbook 18 26

Teacher’s knowledge of students 22 32

Suggestions by colleagues 13 15

Plans from previous year 9 6

Other 3 2

Note: Totals do not equal to 100 because of rounding off.

 Summary and Discussion
 An older style uses the title Conclusions
and Recommendations.
 The previous chapter reported the results
in detail, the last chapter reports the
general findings.
 Because many readers will turn first to the
last chapter of your dissertation, you
should write it so that it tells the full story
of your study.
 Develop an Outline of the Final
Chapter
1. Introduction
2. Statement of the problem
3. Review of the methodology
4. Summary of the results
5. Discussion of the results
1. Interpretation of the findings
2. Relationship of the current study to previous research
3. Recommendations for educators
4. Suggestions for additional research
 Summary (and Discussion)
 Write the Introductory Paragraph
“As an aid to the reader, this final chapter of the dissertation restates the
research problem and reviews the major methods used in the study. The
major sections of this chapter summaries the results and discuss their
implications.”

 Restatethe Problem and Review the

Methodology
 Summarize the Results
 Write the Discussion Section
 In writing the discussion section, do not
feel that you have to follow a prescribed
order. This section is one place where
interchapter consistency is not critical. Tell
your story in any way that seems effective,
and feel free to be somewhat more
subjective.
 Write the Abstract
 The abstract is a summary limited to 350
words.
 You should state the problem and briefly
indicate the methodology. You also should
summarize the results.
 “If I were a researcher trying to decide if
this dissertation is worth retrieving, what
would I want to know?”
 Preparing for the Defense
 Even though you probably will have to make
changes after the hearing, the good copy will
make a more positive impact on the committee.
 A manuscript replete with errors and strikeovers
invites criticism.
 Arrange matters so that the committee receives
the copy 2 to 3 weeks prior to the hearing.
 The night before the hearing, relax, rest, and do
whatever else seems appropriate to help you
feel at ease in the morning.
 Holding the Defense
 Arrive at the defense about 30 minutes ahead of
time.
 If it seems appropriate to your chair, arrange to
have coffee and pastry available for the
committee.
 Check out the room, find out where you will be
sitting, and check all other final arrangements.
 Greet faculty as they arrive; introduce any who
might not know each other.
 Act as if it is your show and you know how to
handle things.
 Holding the Defense
 Ordinarily, when all have assembled, the
chair will ask you to leave. While you pace
the floor outside, the chair is reviewing
with the committee the procedures that will
be followed. The chair is also using the
time to smooth the way for you, because
in many ways the chair is also on the spot.
You then are summoned to return and the
hearing begins.
 Holding the Hearing
 Act as if you are presenting a scholarly paper at
a major conference.
 If possible, avoid using notes.
 Begin by explaining how and why you became
interested in the problem. Discuss briefly the
problem as you conceived it. Review your
methodology.
 Focus mainly on the contents of your last
chapter by summarizing, interpreting, and
discussing your results.
 The Questioning
 You want to respond in a way that
suggests:
You are informed, articulate, suitably
humble in the presence of your elders, but
quietly confident.
 After Your Presentation
 At most universities, committee will make one of three
decisions:
1. Dissertation is accepted.
2. Dissertation will be accepted, with minor changes
made under the guidance of the chair.
3. Dissertation is not accepted; major changes are
required, with final approval by the committee.
 When you have been told that you have “passed, with
minor changes to be made,” thank all participants –
and, at once, make arrangements to consult with your
chair about he changes to be made and the final steps
to be taken.